A lightning bolt flew streaking out of the daimyo’s fingertips, taking out several dokkaebis and sending pieces of their inanimate essence burning to the ground.
“Stay back,” Kira warned them. “Someone please help Jaewon.”
The daimyo raised another lightning strike against Kira. Even as it heated up the air all around her, she continued to move toward him, unaffected. He began to retreat, his face twisted in shocked amazement.
Cursing, the daimyo began to chant in demon tongues. Taejo froze and rose into the air. Gom squealed and jumped onto Taejo’s leg, while Major Pak wrapped his arms around the prince’s waist, trying to pull him down.
The earth began to tremble under their feet again. They heard the imoogi slithering toward them, trying to join its minion.
In that instant, Kira threw the jeweled dagger into the daimyo’s open mouth. Her aim was true; the dagger cleaved his throat.
Still alive and choking on blood, he raised a shaking finger to strike Taejo with lightning, but Kira blocked his way.
“I don’t think so,” she said. She pulled the jeweled dagger from his mouth and gutted him with it. But in her mind, all she could see was Jaewon’s sword stabbing him. She turned back to see Seung and several soldiers carrying Jaewon’s body to safety. She started to go to him when the imoogi let out an unearthly shriek in response and started to flail.
“Now, Kira!” Nara yelled. “Now is the time to finish him!”
Kira tore her gaze from her injured friend and she started running toward the imoogi, but still she was not close enough. She desperately wished for her tiger spirit. Her soul seemed to ache with the loss of what she realized was her first true friend. She knew she would give anything to have her tiger spirit back.
And then, there was a chorus of roars. The roars filled the air as hundreds of tigers came rushing down from the mountains and forests. Five hundred, and then seven hundred, and then over a thousand.
She could not believe her eyes. Even those battling paused midfight to gawk at the vision before them.
A large white tiger came bounding toward her, similar to her own spirit, and appeared at her side. Without hesitating, Kira jumped on its back and urged it toward the imoogi. All the tigers began attacking it, along with the men of the Third and Fourth Divisions. Then the imoogi lowered its head and tried to swallow Kira. She sliced at its mouth, taking out the front fang. She leaped into the air and climbed on top of the imoogi’s head, holding on tight as it tried to shake her loose. With one powerful, fluid movement she rammed the jeweled dagger straight down through its head. The imoogi fell to the ground and the tigers converged on it. And then, Kira pulled out her sword and with one powerful swing, chopped off the great imoogi’s head.
At that moment, all the possessed demon soldiers fell to the ground, leaving piles of skin. The Yamato and Kudara soldiers who’d fought for the daimyo immediately threw down their weapons in surrender. They cried out for mercy, explaining that they fought out of fear of being turned into demons.
A tumultuous cheering erupted from the army. Chants for the Demon Slayer filled the air. But Kira didn’t hear any of it. She moved like someone old and beaten down by life. The soldiers didn’t dare come too close to her, as the tigers flanked her. She didn’t hear the calls of her brother or Taejo, nor was she aware of Taejo as he climbed up onto the coils of the dead imoogi and declared himself king.
“Bow down before your king! The king of the united kingdoms!” His proclamation was repeated over and over as waves of soldiers knelt before Taejo.
But Kira heard nothing. She didn’t hear as the tigers roared one final time and disappeared back into the mountains. She didn’t hear the cheers of all the soldiers shouting her name.
It was all just noise to her as she stumbled back to Jaewon. In her mind’s eye, she could see him being impaled by his sword. She bit back the scream that was building in her throat. Seung was crying by Jaewon’s side. The sword had been removed and his abdomen tightly bandaged, but Kira realized it was too late.
She knelt down and held his hand. Nara had been right. She should have told him how she felt. She should have let him know that his feelings weren’t one-sided. That she would have gladly spent the rest of her life with him. She was filled with regret and a pain so wrenching that she knew her heart was breaking. And yet she had no tears. She was too broken. Exhausted, she placed her head on his chest and closed her eyes, listening to the slowly weakening beat of his heart.
“Mother, Father,” she whispered. “What am I to do? How can I lose him, too? I love him.”
A voice was calling to her. She recognized it as the Heavenly Maiden Lady Mina speaking directly into her mind.
“If you could choose between having your tiger spirit again or having your greatest love, how would you choose? Answer with your heart, and your wish will be granted.”